


Honeybee

by HedgehogOfSpades



Series: The Windmill [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Age Progression, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Automaton!Marco, F/F, Honeybee!Jean, M/M, POV First Person, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-26
Updated: 2014-09-07
Packaged: 2018-02-10 11:57:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2024226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HedgehogOfSpades/pseuds/HedgehogOfSpades
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Automaton - A moving mechanical device made in imitation of a human being.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Awake

In the beginning everything was dark, but then one day it wasn’t dark anymore, well, actually it’s was still dark, just a different type of dark. That’s when I heard my creator for the first time, heard anything for the first time for that matter.

“Hey, you should be awake now, arrggh, hold on a second, your eyes don’t seem to be working, I’ll fix them” After hearing some strange new sounds, well all sounds were strange and new to me, I gained sight. The first sight I ever beheld, a sky with wispy clouds and a young girl kneeling over me with oil staining her cheeks.

“If you understand what I’m saying, raise your hand. I need to make sure you’re intelligent.” I did as she said and she gave me gleaming smile as soon as I completed her task.

“Now I want you to sit up” I was able to do that too, and she was just as enthusiastic with this action too. I looked around momentarily to take in how my surroundings had changed due to my new posture, I saw lines of pretty flowers, as far as the eye could see.

“Could you try speaking? Try saying ‘Ymir’” The young girl had pointed to herself as she asked this request

“That’s my name” she was nervous, I could tell. When I opened my mouth to speak steam escaped from to vents that were on either side of my mouth, the steam escaped with a soft hissing sound.

“Y… mir… Ymir… Ymir, Ymir” I stated her name slow at first and quickly got the hang of speaking and started saying Ymir’s name just as fast and confident as she had said it to me. Ymir’s face lit up when I was able to speak her name, I smiled just as she had, I prepared myself to speak again, this time I had a question to ask.

“Ymir, may I ask what my name is?” Ymir smiled even brighter knowing that I could think and speak for myself, she then reached into a bag that she had next to her and pulled out a book and extended her arm in my direction, she motioned for me to take it, and I did.

“It’s a book of names, I thought I’d let you pick your own name. I guess this would be a good chance to see if you read too… Go ahead open it up” She sat patiently, I looked away from her face and looked down at the book now in my hands. I opened the book slowly, experimentally, I had flipped to about halfway through the book and looked at the first name on the page.

‘ _Marco - Masculine, Origin: Latin, Meaning: Of Mars; messenger of the god of war, Characteristics: Marco tends to be a kind hearted individual, usually sensitive and refined with a wide variety of interests’_   I really liked the sound of that name. I had made my decision.

"I really like this name here, ‘Marco’. I want that to be my name” I handed the still open book to Ymir for her to see, she took the book from me and had a look.

“I like it, it fits you, well, it’s nice to meet you, Marco” she extended her hand out to me.

 

“Put out your right hand and grab my hand with yours” I did as she instructed me, and once I did she started to shake our hands up and down.

 

“This is how you shake hands, it’s a polite greeting, remember to do this when you meet new people.” I made sure to commit that to my memory. Ymir then put the book of names back into her bag and pulled out a square of cloth and rubbed it on her face, wiping the oil from her cheeks to reveal and array of little speckles.

 

“What are those on your cheeks? The little speckles”

 

“Oh, they’re called freckles, and you have them too, I’ll show you when we get home.”

“Home?”

 

“Yea, home, that windmill behind you is home” I looked in the direction she had pointed and sure enough I saw a huge structure, a ‘windmill’ as Ymir had called it, with big slow spinning arms.

 

“I would’ve put you together at home but I didn’t want you to blow up and wreck the house. That’s why we’re in the middle of this flower field” Ymir looked around then, to the rest of the field 

 

“It sure is a nice place to be born don’t you think? These flowers are called tulips.” She moved to stand up, I stayed seated on the ground to admire the flowers. She took out a pocket watch as I continued examining the field, I felt another puff of steam from my cheeks.

“It’s the 16th of June, 1864, 11:34am, I want you to remember that, that’s your birthday.” I smiled at the thought, I had a birthday, Ymir saw my smile and couldn’t help but smile herself. 

 

“Well, It’s time we get home, stand up” I stood up like she asked and as I did, I wobbled a bit due the new feeling of using my legs and I found that I towered over little Ymir, she took my hand in her own and helped me get a hold of my walking, but I inevitably fell on my face. After many attempts and patience on Ymir’s part I was able to walk on my own.

 

When Ymir and I had reached the house at last, I was surprised to see two new faces, two more people. Ymir immediately introduced me to them both.

 

“Marco, I would like for you to meet my mentor, Zoë Hanji, they’re the one with the dark hair, and the one with the lighter hair, Moblit Berner, he’s Hanji’s assistant” the two of them sat in stunned silence, I looked down at Ymir, waiting for her to tell me what to do. 

 

“Aren’t you going to greet them, Marco?”

 

“Oh! Right, I almost forgot” I walked forward towards the table Ymir’s mentor was sat at and extended my right hand to them.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Zoë Hanji” A puff of steam escaped as I finished speaking, Zoë Hanji’s eyes widened and a smile soon filled their face, they quickly stood and took a hold of my hand, giving it an enthusiastic shake.

 

“It’s very nice to meet you too! Ymir I can’t believe you got him functional! Anyhow, Marco, please call me Hanji” Hanji let go of my hand and still continued to look on at me with a pair of wide eyes and an unceasing smile, I turned to Moblit, who was stood to the left of Hanji and extended my hand to him as well, he was hesitant but after a few seconds he took my hand in his and we exchanged a handshake.

 

“It’s very nice to meet you, Moblit”

 

“It’s quite the pleasure meeting you too, Marco” Moblit spoke in a shaky voice, he released my hand after holding it for a little longer than Hanji had. It was silent for a second, Moblit was the first to break the silence.

 

“How does your body feel?” I smiled at him and responded quickly

 

“It feels just fine.” 

 

“Marco…do you understand what you are? Has Ymir here explained anything to you?” Hanji had asked me in a slow voice still holding their smile

 

“I’m not sure I do, what am I?” Moblit and Hanji looked at each other and both hesitated to start speaking, Ymir noticed their hesitance, so she started speaking herself.

“You’re an automaton Marco. It means you’re not the like Hanji, Moblit and me.” 

 

“Ymir, don’t say it like that!” Moblit sputtered, I glanced at him, Moblit did the same to see my reaction, I didn’t know what Ymir had meant by her statement, so I didn’t have much of a reaction. Hanji left their table to stand closer to me.

“What Ymir means is that you’re made of metal and gears, and we’re not.”

 

“Metal?… Then what are you made of?” 

 

“Meat and blood for the most part, but Marco, you are very different from other people, you will never have emotions like normal people would, but that doesn’t mean you are any less special than those other people. Are you understanding me?” Hanji’s tone was very serious during that last part. I tried my hardest to look like I understood, but in actuality, I didn’t, not at all.

 

The rest of that day I spent learning about how my body worked, how to take care of myself, and how to dress myself as well, I even got to see myself in a mirror for the first time, and I have to say, I thought I looked quite handsome. The next couple of days were spent the same way, learning, Ymir took the time to teach me different colors, different animals, and types of plants. Hanji had me learning about all different types of science, biology being my favorite thing to learn from them. Moblit taught me about art and music, I liked learning from Moblit the most, he helped me discover the human concept of creativity.

* * *

 

After a week of learning, Ymir decided it would be good for me to go visit the near by town, a place called “Trost upon Jinae” it was a rather large town with many bridges due to the Jinae river that ran through it. Moblit had accompanied Ymir and I that day, he and Ymir wanted to introduce me to someone. It took a rather long time to get there however, as people kept stopping us just so they could have a look at me ask questions, most of these people being very excited children.

 

“I never thought we’d get here, thank goodness.” Moblit exclaimed when we finally reached a dark red house with a white door and tulips in the windows’ box planters.

 

“I hope Billy has the the day off today.” Moblit knocked on the door

 

“Coming!” a muffled voice shouted from inside, the owner of the voice answered the door a few seconds later, it was a man who wore glasses, just like Hanji did, and a beige cap on his head, aside from those two this things I noticed that this man had the same face as I did. Moblit took his chance and introduced me to, who I could only assume to be, Billy.

 

“Billy, I’d like for you to meet, Marco.”

 

“You’re kidding!” Billy gave me the same look I had gotten from all the children that day, he was absolutely amazed. It would’ve been impolite to not shake his hand, so I offered mine out first, as I did a puff of steam escaped me.

 

“It’s very nice to meet you Mr.Billy.”

 

“I can’t believe it, you can talk too!” Billy excitedly shook my hand.

 

“It great to finally meet you, Marco! The three of you should come in, I want to get to know Marco some more.” Ymir walked in first, I followed close behind and Moblit entered last. Ymir quickly made herself at home and sat on the red loveseat in the immediate parlor that the front door had opened up to.

“Come sit next to me, Marco.” I did as she asked. Moblit and Billy joined us soon after, Billy grabbed a chair for himself and Moblit from a nearby table. Ymir cleared her throat.

 

“Marco, I can guess you’re wondering why you and Billy look so similar.”

 

“I am, I thought it would be impolite to ask about that though, you taught me it’s not very nice to ask people about their faces.” Billy let out a very warm chuckle at my statement.

 

“Since you’re wondering, you were modeled after me. Except you look younger than I do, it was three years ago, right? Ymir was only seven when she had your face constructed. Except I don’t remember the freckles, what’s that about, Ymir?”

 

“You better not laugh at me, but I accidentally lost Marco’s face plate under a pile of pocket watch cogs and they ended up leaving rust marks on his face.” At that point in the conversation my mind started to wander a little bit. 

I started thinking about how out of the people I knew some had two names, Hanji and Moblit had two names, but I hadn’t heard of a second name for Ymir, or Billy for that matter. I thought about whether or not it was a polite question to ask.

 

“Excuse me” I chose to chime in as soon as Ymir and Billy stopped their banter

 

“I hope this isn’t a rude question to ask, but out of the people that I’ve met, I noticed that some have two names and others don’t, could I be told why?”  Moblit shifted in his chair a little bit.

 

“I think you’re wondering about surnames.” I nodded

 

“Well, you see, Marco, people have a name that they are called by and a surname, which is a family name, it let’s other know who you are related to.” That made sense. 

 

“but then does that mean Ymir and Billy don’t have families? And why was it that Zoë Hanji prefers to be called Hanji rather than Zoë? I’m confused about those things.”

 

“Billy and I do have surnames… I guess I never told you my full name did I? Billy and I both share a surname, because we’re cousins, I’m Ymir Bodt and he’s Billy Bodt, well technically William Bodt, Billy is just his nickname.” Billy nodded his head as soon as Ymir finished her explanation, she then continued on to say

“And Hanji, they just like to be called by their last name, and that’s all there is to it.”

 

“Ymir, can only humans have family?”

 

“No not just humans, other animals can have family too.” Ymir must’ve known what I was to shy to ask

 

“ and you can have family too, Marco. You can be a part of mine and Billy’s family. How does that sound to you, Marco Bodt?” Two big puffs of steam were released from my vents as I smiled, ‘Marco Bodt’ had a nice ring to it.

 

“I’d be honored to be a part of your family.”

 

“And it seems as though our small family has finally grown some, hey, so, Marco, are you going to be working at the shop with Hanji, Moblit, and Ymir?” I turned my head towards Billy, but I didn’t respond, what shop was he talking about? Moblit spoke before I could voice my confusion.

 

“We haven’t told Marco about the shop, in fact Hanji was thinking of closing it, since customers haven’t been coming in lately.”

 

“That’d be a terrible idea! I’m sure you’d be able to draw in customers with Marco’s help here, I mean imagine what people would think once they heard that a ten year old was able to build a working mechanical human? What am I saying, I work for the newspaper! We could go down to the office and get a story published in the paper about Marco and Ymir.” Billy’s excitement filled the room to the brim.

 

“He has a good point Ymir, Marco could save the shop.”

 

“I’ll only do it if Marco is okay with it, Marco would you be okay appearing in the newspaper?” I wasn’t entirely sure what a newspaper was or what the shop they were talking about was, but it seemed that it would be a good thing if I agreed to help. I nodded my head to Ymir. Billy couldn’t help but grin

 

“That’s great! Come by the office tomorrow and we’ll get everything taken care of!” Moblit looked at his watch then.

 

“tch, all those kids ate up our time, It’s five-thirty, I think it’s about time we got back home now, don’t you think Ymir?” 

 

“I guess so.” Ymir got up from the loveseat and I did the same. She approached Billy and put her arms around him, he did the same. This was the first time I had seen such a display.

 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Billy, I love you.” they broke their embrace and Billy put his mouth against Ymir forehead.

 

“I love you too, cousin, take care.” I couldn’t help but think that these actions were very strange, but I found them endearing nonetheless. Billy got up from his chair and made his way towards me, he wrapped his arms around me just as he had with Ymir.

 

“And here’s a hug for you too, you’ve come a long way big guy, I’m proud of Ymir and you both.” his words made me insides feel infinitely warm, with a big puff of steam I wrapped my arms around Billy too. It was pleasant, I liked how hugs felt. We let go of each other and after all our goodbyes were exchanged we made our way out of the dark red house. We began our walk back home, there was something bothering me though.

“Ymir, may I ask what Billy was doing when he put his mouth to your forehead?” Ymir simply laughed

 

“That’s called a kiss, a kiss is when a person uses their lips to touch another person. Family and friends,  do it or people who are in love.” love, I didn’t understand what that word meant either, but from what Ymir told me, love was a good thing.

 

I heard the sound of feet hitting the ground then and before I knew it two children came into my view, they looked to be about Ymir’s age. However one of the children was running much faster than the other.

 

“Armin, you’re too slow! We’ll never get to the beach at this rate!”

 

“You can only run so fast because of your wings, it’s not fair, Jean!” it wasn’t until then that I noticed the faster of the children looked very different from the people I had seen that day, he had wings on his back, an extra pair of arms, and a mass of fluff that adorned his neck, the child looked like a Honeybee, like the ones Ymir taught me of. The boy hadn’t been looking where he was running and slammed into me, immediately falling backwards onto the ground, and just as quickly as he fell I leaned down to see if he was hurt.

 

“Are you alright?” it was too late, the kid had hurt himself and had started to leak from his eyes, he was crying. I didn’t know what else I could do, so I picked him up off the ground so he could stand on his feet and put my arms around him, hoping he’d find comfort in it, After a few second I released him.

 

“Better now?” 

 

“Y-yea, I-I’m okay” he spoke in hiccuped chunks

 

“Thank you, Mister” the Honeybee’s friend soon joined him and they made their way to where ever they were headed. When I stood again Ymir and Moblit just stared at me.

“Marco, how did you know to comfort little Jean like that?” Moblit asked

 

“I didn’t know what else to do, it just seemed right, I guess…” I hope I hadn’t done something wrong, Ymir took my hand in her own and smiled.

 

“You did a good job, you’ll do well, Marco. now, let’s get home”

 

We arrived home and I spent the rest of the day thinking about that boy, if I remembered right, his name was Jean.

 


	2. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco learns how to keep secrets

The months passed, and like Billy had said, being in the newspaper sure did help Hanji’s shop, it was a little place that sold clockwork toy trinkets, elegant clocks, beautiful music boxes and even mechanical animals, ones that worked like I did, ones that were living, from things as small as finches and hedgehogs to even things as big as dogs, but they didn’t think like I did. I enjoyed spending my time there, it meant that I could meet people and most of all watch how they acted. I slowly started acting like humans did using certain phrases and adopting different mannerisms. During the months that passed I also got to learn about some of Trost upon Jinae’s unique residents, namely the Honeybees, diligent workers who made the town what it was.  

 

My only problem was that I didn’t get to see the town much since there was always work to do at the store and as soon as the summer ended Ymir couldn’t stay up late with me, she had to attend a thing called _school_. so I spent my nights alone since I didn’t sleep like my humans did. I could've always let myself run out of power, but I didn't ever really want to do that, being alone didn't bother me much. 

 

Sometimes Moblit would stay up with me as he got some work done. As the resident artist, Moblit spent a lot of time in front of a furnace, creating glass and metal figures for the music boxes Hanji sold, tiny women in pretty dresses or well dressed miniature gentlemen, still it wasn’t often that Moblit would stay up and even when he did we didn’t talk much.

 

I read books but they soon became too little for me, I was alone with my thoughts. I would look at the town from the window and see the lights, the town was always awake. I started developing a sense for adventure, I decided I was going to sneak out. 

 

I waited until everyone was asleep, I made sure my tank was full of water, brought some money I had saved up and exited my windmill home quietly.

 

The town was awake with music and people in the streets, much livelier than in the day if you asked me. I saw a particularly large crowd of people all surrounding something, as I drew closer I saw that these people were watching a woman play music on a banjo… and tossing money her way. Interesting. I stuck around to watch her, she sang her song until she decided to take a break, the crowd left quickly, but I stayed.

 

“You’re a beautiful musician” I stated this fact as I dropped a couple of coins in a black top hat she had just for that purpose.

 

“Thank you… Hey, ain’t you that fancy robot, that’s been the talk of the town?” she grinned up at me from her seated position, brushing bouncy blonde curls from her face.

 

“I’m an automaton, actually, but yes, that would be right” I crouched down to the musician’s level and extended my hand to her. “I’m Marco, it’s nice to meet you” the blonde woman took my hand in her own but rather than shake my hand she brought it to her mouth and placed a kiss on the back of my hand, leaving a red mark from the lipstick she wore. I liked this form of greeting.

 

“My name is Hitch, so what brings you around metal man? I’ve never seen you on the night scene.” A puff of steam hissed out of my vents as I smiled at her.

 

“I snuck out for the night. My humans are asleep.” she laughed.

 

“wow, that is hardcore. Come sit next me why don’t ya?” I did as she asked me to, once I settled down next to her she grabbed her collection hat and proceeded to dump its contents into a bag she had with her.

 

“Is this how you make money? Through music?” she nodded “I think that’s nice, I like music and singing.” Hitch glanced up from her bag a grin painting her face.

 

“Do you happen to sing, metal man?” I pondered how to answer that question, because I did sing, but I was in no way confident in my abilities. Steam escaped my cheeks again when I open my mouth to speak.

 

“I like to sing, but I don’t think I’m very good at it. I don’t practice to often” Hitch raised an eyebrow.

 

“You really think that?” a smug smirk came to her face. “Sing me something, Marco, you can’t be that bad.” She nudged at my arm with her own, I looked down at the ground, well, I guess it couldn’t hurt. I sang a scale, since it was the only thing I could think to sing. The tones came out only loud enough for her to hear. She waited a little while after I had finished to speak.

 

“That wasn’t so hard, was it now? You have a very beautiful voice.” I would’ve blushed if I could, compliments were nice, and I got a warm sensation in my chest every time I received one, or maybe that was just my boiler…

 

Hitch grabbed at her bag again, this time pulling out a bottle that she had mixed in with her earnings, a bottle I recognized right away, it was mead. Trost upon Jinae was known for its mead, it was made from tulip honey that only the Honeybees that lived here could make, the people ones not the little insects, it was why this town was as rich as it was. After Hitch took a swig of mead she stored the bottle and got to her feet. Banjo in hand she looked down at me

 

“That voice of yours is real nice, mind helping me out with it?”

 

“Help with what?”

 

“Sing some songs with me, what else could I mean? A singing metal man would sure draw a crowd.” Well, I did want to start living a little didn’t I? This was a good chance to start I guess. 

 

I spent the rest of my night with Hitch, she told me to sing whatever I wanted, no matter what it was, she’d be able to follow along on her banjo. Our music attracted quite the crowd, I loved watching the people gather and dance to our songs. Once Hitch was done for the night the crowd left just as quick as they had come, just like last time.

 

“You know it’s my last night in this town, I’m heading out on a train tomorrow. Going north to Stohess.” she paused “I’ve been looking for someone, Marco” Hitch reached into her shirt and pulled out a photograph, she handed it to me. It was a photograph of a young girl with many blonde curls in a white dress and a young boy with a bowl cut dressed in a white shirt and gray trousers, the both of them were sat in the middle a tulip field, the field by my home. Hitch moved her hair from her face.

 

“That’s me and my friend, Marlo, we grew up in this town, but a couple of years back I left this town so I could find myself… I came back to visit him but, he’s nowhere to be found.” Hitch took her photo back and leaned down to pick up her collection hat, now heavy with money, she dumped its contents into her bag like she did the last time, she rummaged around her bag, as if she were picking out coins.

 

“Marco, cup your hands.” I did as she asked and immediately Hitch put a load of coins in my hands, four quarters, eight dimes, a half dollar coin, four nickels and 3 dollar bills, she was giving me five and a half dollars? This was a lot of money. “That’s your cut of the money, make sure not to spend it all in one place.”

 

“Miss Hitch… this is a lot of money, I can’t take possibly this! You need it way more than I do” she shrugged it off as if it were nothing.

 

“Don’t you go saying that, you worked hard for that money too, I insist. Besides I’ve got more than enough in this bag of mine.” Hitch packed her banjo away in its case, placed her top hat on her head over her blonde curls, and grabbed up her bag. “I’ve got to get back to the inn I’m staying at, I hope the next time I come around here I get to see you, metal man. You’ve made my last night here pretty fun. Thanks for that. ” She turned on her heels and made her way down the sidewalk, I watched her until she turned a corner and was out of my sight, I felt a puff of steam leave me then as I put my money away into my pockets. 

 

I made my way home, snuck in quietly and put my money in a jar I had just for that purpose. What an adventure that night was. I decided I wouldn’t do it again though. One night out was enough for me. From that night on I started writing music, stories like the ones in the books I read, but in the form of songs, I kept them to myself though.

 

* * *

 

Eventually winter break rolled around and Ymir was off from school for a while and worked the shop with Hanji, Moblit and I. However Ymir started leaving the shop early saying that she had school work to do, Hanji and Moblit suspected otherwise.

 

“Marco, I need you to do something for me today.” Hanji had waited until Ymir had left to ask “I need you to go and follow Ymir, I want to know where she’s been going these days.”

 

“She said she had school work to do.” a grin came to Hanji’s face

 

“Marco, you’ve got to learn when people are lying, Ymir is definitely up to something. Go follow her, make sure she doesn’t see you.” after some thinking I made my way out of the store and caught sight of Ymir, she was walking north, towards our home. 

 

Eventually Ymir did reach the windmill, but instead of going inside I saw her continue on past our home, down the hill, to the tulip field that was only a bit farther than our home, and sitting by the tulips was… a girl with a small black and white dog, she looked about Ymir’s age, a bit shorter than Ymir though, and she had light blonde hair that was worn in two braids.

 

“Ymir! You’re here!” The girl stood quickly and ran to Ymir wrapping her arms around her, Ymir did the same, she drew back from the girl and looked hesitant, the blonde saw this and took action herself, she put her lips to Ymir’s. Ymir immediately turned bright red and shyly returned the gesture… How endearing. The little black and white dog began to walk over to the two girls but then stopped in its tracks and turned to me and began to bark, both the girls let go of each other and turned to look at me. Oops

 

“Marco! What are you doing here!?” Ymir was bright red as she yelled to me, not red with anger but with embarrassment. “Did you follow me out here?”

 

“Yes, but only because Hanji asked me to” A puff of steam escaped my vents as I called back to her, Ymir sighed and signaled for me to approach her. Ymir seemed a bit nervous. 

 

“Marco, this is Christa, say hello”

 

“It’s very nice to meet you, Christa” Like I had done countless times I extended my hand to little Christa, she delicately placed her hand in mine but instead of shaking I bent down and put my mouth to the top of her hand, a kiss, not a real kiss really thought, since my lips weren’t made for that. Christa giggled and Ymir looked to me in slight shock.

 

“I never taught you that, Did I?” That was right, the hand kiss was what I learned from Hitch, I had to think of a lie quick.

 

“Oh… I learned it from a book.”  

 

“Well, I’ve heard a lot about you from Ymir, I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, Marco.” Christa picked up her still yipping dog, calmed them down, and put the little dog back on the ground. Christa found a seat on the grass and invited Ymir and I to do the same. 

 

Ymir was struggling to find her words, she started off a bit shaky once she calmed down a little bit.

 

“Marco, please don’t tell Hanji about me and Christa. Christa’s dad wouldn’t like it very much if he heard she and I were together, like this.”

 

“I don’t understand… What’s wrong with the two of you?” Christa took Ymir’s hand in her own and cleared her throat.

 

“Ymir and I are in love and my father would be very angry if he knew, because he says girls marry boys, but I don’t like boys, so I’m going to marry Ymir.” Christa put her lips to Ymir’s cheek as soon as she said the last part. 

 

I saw the problem, this was like some of the books I had read, the ones about forbidden love and all that, love was still a strange concept to me, because humans could love others or _be_ in love with others, Moblit had taken the time to explain that these were two very different states of feeling. To love others meant to care deeply for them, people like friends or family, and to be in love with others also meant to care deeply for them, but not in a way you’d love family or friends, Moblit said he couldn’t explain it any better than that, being in love was a very unique feeling.

 

“Marco, do you promise you won’t tell Hanji or Moblit?” I nodded to Ymir “You’re not allowed to tell Billy either, I’ll tell him myself when Christa and I are ready” She had a very serious look on her face, or at least that’s what she was aiming for, I couldn’t help but chuckle internally

 

“I promise not to tell anyone, you have my word, Ymir.” She relaxed and let the serious look fade from her face. 

 

Christa’s little dog began to bark in the direction of the windmill, and before we knew it three young boys had come over the hill, two of whom I recognized, if I remembered right, the blond with the bowl cut was Armin and the honeybee, I knew he was named Jean, the third member of the group was a boy I didn’t recognized, he was blond like the other two, his hair was short however, and he had a very prominent nose. I heard Ymir curse under her breath.

 

“See, I told you I saw Christa coming over here.” the boys continued drawing close

 

“Reiner! Why are you here? Why were you following Christa!?” Christa cleared her throat and said something only loud enough for Ymir to hear, she calmed down a little with that action.

 

“We wanted to play with Christa” the boy who I now knew to be Reiner finally reached out little patch of grass with the others trailing not far behind him. I immediately caught Reiner’s attention  “Whoa! Is this the robot you made? I haven’t gotten the chance to meet him yet, he looks so cool! Does he have any weapons?” Two puffs of steam left me as I laughed, this wasn’t something I hadn’t grown accustomed to, curious children that is.

 

“Actually, I’m an automaton, but yes, Ymir is my creator, and I don’t have any weapons, sorry to disappoint.” Reiner took a seat next to me in the grass.

 

“That’s too bad, it would’ve made you so much cooler, hey Armin, didn’t you and Jean meet this guy a couple of months back?” Armin and Jean sat with us in the grass too.

 

“Yea, I accidentally bumped into him, except we just thought he was a guy in make-up, we didn’t know he wasn’t a real person.” I saw Ymir stiffen a little, her pupils got small.

 

“Don’t you dare say that about Marco! He is too a real person! It doesn’t matter if he’s metal, besides you did a lot more than bump into him you big crybaby, remember how Marco had to make you stop crying?” I had never seen Ymir act like this, did I mean that much to her? I looked over at Jean, he was stunned, his face was red with embarrassment, and both set of his sets of arms were crossed.

 

“Ymir, don’t be mean to our friends, the day is too nice for arguments, don’t you think?” everyone relaxed at Christa’s words “and how do you think Marco feels about all of this? You don’t like seeing Ymir angry do you, Marco?”

 

“I think it’d be nice if we were all friendly with each other, besides I don’t have many friends, and I’d like to take this chance to make some more. It’s very nice to meet the three of you. I’m Marco, Marco Bodt” I extended my hand out towards the boys.

 

“I’m Reiner Braun, and it’s really cool to meet you!” Reiner took hold and shook enthusiastically, Armin was the next to take my hand in his.

 

“It’s nice to meet you properly, my name is Armin, Armin Arlert.” his smile was warm as he introduced himself. When I offered my hand to Jean he was hesitant, it wasn’t until after another puff of steam escaped me that he carefully put his hand in mine and I felt it was right to place a kiss to his hand so I did, much to Jean’s shock, his face turned bright red and it got quiet, awkward quiet.

 

“Did I do something wrong?”

 

“No, it wasn’t wrong, just a bit weird.” Jean paused to think, or that’s what it seemed to me. “Well, my name is Jean Kirschstein, anyway, and I guess it’s nice to meet you, even though we’ve met before.” I offered him a smile and he returned it reluctantly. Jean turned to the others in our group and seemed anxious to ask something “Hey, so, Ymir… Do you know if Mikasa is back in town?” she tossed him a strange look.

 

“Why do you think I would know?”

 

“Well you’re Hanji’s apprentice and everything and Hanji and Levi are friends, and last time we all saw Mikasa was when she left with Levi in that seaplane of his, I mean what if they got hurt.” Ymir made a face as if she were thinking.

 

“Well, now that I think about it, Hanji did say he was flying back soon—“ Reiner shocked us all when he began laughing suddenly, cutting off Ymir.

 

“Yea, right, Levi is the best seaplane pilot that’s ever lived, you think he’d die in some dumb accident? You just have a crush on Mikasa, that’s why you want to see her.” The other kids in the group chuckled and ‘ooo’ed at Jean, they all stopped when they saw that Jean had tears in his eyes.

 

“Why do you all have to tease me!? Maybe I just want her to be safe because she’s like me!” He rose to his feet quickly and ran from the group, he ran even faster using his wings to carry him faster. 

 

“Jean! Come back, you know we didn’t mean it! We’re sorry!” Jean was half way across the tulip field by the time Armin had yelled to him, I don’t know what compelled me to do it, but I stood.

 

“I’ll go take care of him, don’t you all worry.” They all gave me surprised looks but no one disapproved, I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, big puffs of steam leaving my cheeks as I did. It took me no time at all to reach Jean where he sat amongst the tulips, he had his tongue stuck down in a tulip, tears streaming down his face, and a blush coloring his cheeks. He didn’t look at me when I sat next to him on the ground, once another puff of steam left my vents he did jump a little. “Are you alright?” he sniffled a bit and pulled the tulip from his face.

 

“Yea, I’m okay… I’m just mad at myself is all.”

 

“Why would you be mad at yourself?” he glanced at me from the side.

 

“I’m mad at myself because I always cry, I mean I want to grow up to be strong and stuff, but if I can’t take a little bit of teasing… I’m just weak, I guess.” he picked another tulip and stuck his tongue in that one as well, we was quivering just a little, his two antennae twitching.

 

“There’s nothing wrong with crying—“

 

“Yes there is!” He cut me off before I could finish my sentence and discarded the tulip he had been sucking on “I mean, Mikasa won’t ever like some crybaby like me… The others were right, I do like her, but I also care about her because we’re both honeybees and I think it makes sense to care, I mean you’d look out for other automatons too, wouldn’t you? Well, you don’t really have feelings do you? you couldn’t really care for others I guess.” There it was again, why did people assume I didn’t have feelings or emotions? It didn’t bother me much, I guess what I called ‘feelings’ must’ve been different to what people know to be feelings.

 

“I read a lot of books, you know, and I think that you’re just young, and everything seems tough, but everything will work out, that’s how my books always turn out. I don’t think you should worry, you have lots of time to grow up. There’s no need to try to change who you are so fast.” I put my arm around Jean’s shoulder and brought him close, it was a little bit sudden, he was surprised by my movement but didn’t fight it, instead he wrapped his four arms around my waist and pulled himself even closer to me, we stayed like that until I felt that Jean had stopped his crying and hiccupy breaths. “We should get back to the others.”

 

“yea, okay…” I waited for a second

 

“… I’m going to need you to let go of my waist if you want us to get back.” 

 

“Right, right, right, sorry about that!” after my waist was released I saw that Jean’s cheeks were still colored light pink, probably from the crying. We made our way together back to Ymir and her group, each of them apologized to Jean for having teased him.

 

We sat by the tulips for a couple of hours, just talking and enjoying the company of one another. I was able to get to know Ymir’s friends very well and was able to connect with each of them, Armin had even invited me to come see the ocean with him since I hadn’t found the time to go see it myself.

 

As soon as the sun began to set the little group decided to get on home before it was too late. We said our goodbyes and Ymir and I got ourselves home. Since Hanji and Moblit wouldn’t be home for a little while Ymir and I got dinner started, even if I didn’t eat any of it myself I liked helping prepare the food, it was also a way to pass time on top of the fact that my humans seemed more relaxed when cooking and became a lot more talkative.

 

“So, it seems like Jean really opened up to you.” I turned my head in Ymir’s direction, away from the carrots I had been chopping up.

 

“Is Jean not usually like that?”

 

“No, not really, I mean he opens up to Armin a bit but Jean likes to keep to himself most of the time, he doesn’t get comfortable around others usually.”

 

“Interesting, I’ll keep that in mind.” I continued chopping the carrots and tossed them into the stew that would serve as dinner but before I could grab some spices from the cabinet I heard Ymir stop cutting potatoes, I looked over at her, curious, only to find that she was looking out the kitchen window that faced the town, I looked out as well, it was Hanji and Moblit but accompanying them were two honeybees, a short man with black hair and a girl who had been about Jean’s height with hair just as dark as the man’s, she wore a red scarf under the mane of fluff around her neck.

 

“Who are those people?”

 

“That’s Levi, the pilot that Jean had mentioned earlier, and the girl is Mikasa, speak of the devil, I guess.” Hanji waved at us through the window. Ymir stepped away from the stove, removed the apron she had on, and walked to the front door. I decided to pick up where she had left off on cutting the potatoes, I was much faster at it since my hands didn’t tire. I heard the door open but I paid it no mind until Moblit cleared his throat. 

 

“Marco, come greet our guests.” I tossed a glance towards the door

 

“Right, of course. Hold on I have to wash my hands, I apologize for the wait.” as I did so I heard the honeybee known as Levi speak

 

“Wow this robot of yours is even more hygienic than Hanji is.” I shook the water off my hands and wiped them dry on a a kitchen rag, I removed my own apron then spinning quickly on my heels I walked toward our guests, I offered my hand to Levi, who was quite a bit shorter than I was.

 

“I’m actually an automaton, sir, It’s very nice to meet you, I’m Marco Bodt.” He gave me a firm handshake.

 

“Nice meeting you too, I’m Levi Ackerman… Wow, I can remember when you were just a blue print Ymir had doodled.” Levi paused “It’s too bad that Erwin couldn’t be here, he was looking forward to meeting you, what a shame.” the atmosphere of the room changed, I didn’t know why. Hanji and Moblit stood with mouths open. Ymir, who still stood by the door, didn’t move from her place she only shifted her eyes to be able to look at Levi. Hanji inhaled and spoke softly.

 

“Levi… Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”

 

“Calm down, I didn’t mean that he died, sorry if that’s how it sounded, you know how I am.” a sigh of relief swept through the house. “He got shot down by seaplane pirates, he lost his right arm, unfortunately, he was taken to Dr.Jaeger’s in Shiganshina, he should be up here in a week. News about Marco spread to even us out at sea, Erwin couldn’t wait to see Ymir’s masterpiece finally take form.”

 

“You shouldn’t talk about Marco like that, just because I built him doesn’t mean that I’m his owner, his life is his own.” Levi chuckled a bit.

 

“Not bad, you’re a smart kid, Ymir.” Levi signaled for little Mikasa to come closer. “Say hi, Mikasa.”

 

“Hello” her voice came out small, I offered my hand to her and she placed her own in mine without a second thought, giving a soft handshake and releasing “It’s nice to meet you, Marco”

 

“Same to you, Mikasa” her eyes were glued to me, examining me. I shifted my gaze to Levi “Will the two of you be staying for dinner?” Levi shifted on his feet.

 

“If it’s no trouble that is, I think Mikasa and I are due in for a home cooked meal.” Moblit moved towards the kitchen stove before I got the chance to return to the cooking.

 

“I can handle the cooking from here, you should get acquainted with Levi and Mikasa.” As Moblit took over the kitchen the rest of us made our way to the living room, Ymir and Mikasa sat on either side of me on the couch, Levi took his place in an armchair, and despite there being more chairs, Hanji chose to stand by the window.

 

“Levi, you’re going to bring your plane around, aren’t you? Or maybe your plane is completely fine for once?” Hanji gave a hopeful smile, Levi smirked and raised his eyebrows just a bit.

 

“No dice, Glasses, I may be an expert at not being shot but my plane is another story. I’ll fly her up here by tomorrow morning.” Levi shifted in his seat, and folded his second set of arms then turned his focus to me. “So, Marco, why don’t you tell me about yourself.” I found it surprising that he changed the conversation topic so quickly, I also found it surprising that Levi had such interest in me, I had never been asked to talk about myself. Like clockwork, steam left my vents.

 

“Well I like to think that I’m a smart individual, I think that hedgehogs are charming animals, I favor orange Tulips, and I think I look good when dressed in red and black.” Levi lifted his eyebrows at me. “Is there anything else you’d like to know about me, I’m sorry if I didn’t give enough information.”

 

“Well, you said you were a smart guy, right? What have you learned about history?” he wanted to know about my knowledge of history? I honestly didn’t know much now that I thought about it.

 

“I don’t know much about history at all, to be completely honest.”

 

“Not even the titans?” Titans? This was the first I ever heard of such things. I shook my head as an answer to his question. “What the hell Hanji!? You’ve had this boy here for months and you haven’t spouted anything about the titans? Incredible.”

 

“Well we’ve been busy teaching Marco other things and for the most part we’ve been letting him learn on his own, haven’t been forcing anything down his throat and all that, not like our schooling was.”

 

“You’re right about that, I guess I’ll take this chance to tell you about the Titans then…” he stopped for a second, trying to let himself think “A little more than a 1,000 years ago humanity fell prey to the titans, the titans were large beings that looked like humans and would eat them if they got the chance, the titans devoured most of Humanity, however there were humans that survived and used colossal type titans to build walls to keep the others out, and about after a hundred years of hiding, a colossal type titan broke down the outer wall of the 3 that where built, almost half of the population perished as a result. A lot more things happened but it would take all day to explain, but basically a fake monarch was keeping everyone inside the walls for selfish reasons and it was discovered that titans were actually humans, and after some other turn of events humans left the walls and the titans were gone.”

 

What Levi had told me had sounded like a fairy tale, it sounded as though it couldn’t be true. “How did Humanity escape?”

 

“Well, Humanity started winning against the titans when a man named the _Iron Hunter_ became a titan and fought for Humanity, there’s a lot more to the story than that but a lot of history from that time has been lost but that’s the gist of it. Something that has stuck around is this symbol though.” Levi moved pointed to the right pocket of his aviator suit, a symbol of a two wings crossing each other, with the white one forward and the navy one behind. “The Wings of Freedom, this symbol belonged to a faction of Humanity’s defense that went beyond the walls, they helped free Humanity too, most all the names of those from that time have been lost, aside from the _Iron Hunter_ and we’re pretty sure that wasn’t the guy’s name either.”

 

“How come I haven’t heard about this until now?”

 

“It’s because people feel uncomfortable talking about the titans, the last time people got interested in the titans the honeybees came about.” I turned my attention to Ymir, I didn’t quite understand what she meant.

 

“I don’t understand.”

 

“Well about 500 years ago some cult who worshipped the titans had gotten together and kidnapped thousands of people, which was a quite the task by itself, and tried to bring back the titans with the same type of magic that had been used the first time, but instead they failed and created the honeybees.” Hanji rolled their eyes.

 

“Ymir, please, it wasn’t magic, it was more of a type of Alchemy.” 

 

"It doesn't really matter, does it? It might as well as been magic because to this day no one is sure how they even did it" 

 

“I am learning so much today, I want to thank all of you for educating me. I hope I get to learn more about all these things.” Moblit walked into the living room by then and motioned everyone to follow as dinner was ready. Dinner lasted about an hour, I got to know more about what Levi did and I got to learn about the military. After Levi and Mikasa had left the others had gone to sleep, and as always, I was alone with my thoughts. The next morning Hanji didn’t bother asking me what Ymir had been up to these days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, Oh man, I don't have much to say on this but, uh, here it is I guess

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I've written in a very long time.
> 
> This fic is the result of an AU that came about from listening to a ton of Steam Powered Giraffe music, that I've already done a series of drawings for, which can all be found on my tumblr  
> freckled-jesus-take-the-prndl.tumblr.com


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